Uruguay next

Costa Rican president and Nobel Prize winner, Oscar Arias, presented a proposal to the Uruguayan president to eliminate the uruguayan army. Costa Rica is one of the few countries in the world to erradicate their army and take a more peaceful approach. Oscar Arias said: Why does Uruguay need an army? It hasnt been in a war for years? Who's gonna attack Uruguay, Brazil? Argentina? I dont think so. Uruguay doesnt need an army. Nevertheless, some conservative Uruguayan senators claimed that Arias should mind his own businesses and stay out of Uruguay. Ironically, those senators are investors of the companies who manage the Uruguayan Army's weapons and resources. Mind his own business? Hmmmm....

Turtle Paradise

Costa Rica has been declared a turtle paradise, according to major environmental organizations like Neotropica and Greenpeace. According to this organizations, most of the existant leatherback turtles are Costarican, or born in Costa Rica. This is because the government, as well as environmental organizations, has worked hard and made laws to especially protect this turtles and their nesting places. Every year, at year's beginning, thousands of leatherback turtles swim to Costa Rica, where they were born, and lay their eggs so a new generation of turtles can rise.

Costa Rican healthcare

Conservative talk-show host, Rush Limbaugh, declared a few weeks ago that if the Obama Health Care Plan or "Obamacare" passed he would move out of the United States and get his medical treatment in Costa Rica. A few days ago, the Obamacare was passed by Congress. This is good news for US citizens, especially the more than 30 million without healthcare but it is actually bad news for us Costa Ricans! We dont want people like Rush in Costa Rica! People who dont care about their neighbors but only about themselves and who defended the healthcare industry knowing that by doing that, they were helping to increase the misery of more than 30 million people! Nevertheless, something good also came out for Costa Rica. Suddenly, everyone is asking: Why Costa Rica?

Well, Costa Rica has a long story of social reforms and all. In one of those social reforms, in 1956, a president declared healthcare to be universal and accesible for all. He declared that the state would run the healthcare through a separate organization and that every Costa Rican RESIDENT (not even citizen) has to pay 6% of their salary to maintain the healthcare system, even if they don't use it. This could be seen as unfair by many people but not by us. This is a way to contribute to society, because all of us live in the same country and share the same resources. One person's misery harms everyone.

Also, people may argue: If its state-run, then it must be pretty bad, right? Umm, not actually. Because of our healthcare, life expectancy in Costa Rica is higher even than the US. Its actually paired up with the Scandinavian countries, who have the longest life expectancy in the world. Costa Rica ranks in general health higher than the US according to the World Health Organization. Costarican doctors are pretty good doctors. And because healthcare is accesible to anyone, private healthcare is also ridiculously cheap, compared to the US. You can get the same or higher quality medical procedure in CR for half the cost of what it would be in the US. You can get it for free, actually, if you are a resident and the procedure is covered by the national healthcare. (cosmetic procedures are not covered, this means no free boob job, sorry!)

So wrapping up, those are the reasons why Rush wants to move to Costa Rica. BUT! if he moves to Costa Rica, he'll still have to pay for national healthcare, even if he doesnt use the state-run one (he'll use the private, still cheap one which gets you "spa recovery" and tours!). And he'll obviously wont, people like that wouldnt want to contribute to society and help people they dont know. So, it seems Rush has a tough choice: stay on his country and pay healthcare for his countrymen, or pay healthcare for costaricans! Or move to another country. Still, 2 New Yorkers who used to have no healthcare, did a campaign called ATicketForRush.com where they gathered enough money to send Rush in a plane on First Class to Costa Rica. If he does go there, I sure hope the State Healthcare Official gives him a warm, Costarican welcome

National Stadium

The Costarican national stadium is close to completion. The stadium when completed will be the biggest stadium in all of central america, with a capacity for 50 000 fans. This construction comes after the demolition of the ancient national stadium due to old infraestructure (it was built in 1924).

The costa ricans expect a magnificent stadium since the old stadium was full of memories, like when local team Saprissa faced the famous Real Madrid or when local team Liga Deportiva Alajuelense faced the Sevilla, from Spain. The old stadium is also remembered because of the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1983 and a Human Rights concert in 1988 where Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Peter Gabriel, among others, played for the defense of human rights in the world. Since the demolition, more than 1000 workers have begun work on the new national stadium, which is expected to be inaugurated on February 2011.

Volcano trouble

It seems like the once-asleep Turrialba volcano is now awake. Costarican scientists from the OVSICORI or Volcanic Institute of Costa Rica have declared that the volcano has become active. This comes after some movement felt from the volcano that shook San Jose, the capital city. The volcano is now on eruption, liberating gases and some minor ash.

Few lava has come out but the scientists say that its only a matter of time until the major eruption. How major it will be? No one knows, but the volcano hasnt erupted in about a couple thousands of years so no one knows what to expect. The volcano, meanwhile, continues on minor eruptions and still provokes some minor movement on a weekly basis.